If you want to save yourself a lot of time, make sure you have a basic understanding of all the techniques and strategies and philosophies that are common.
Then, make sure you have a basic understanding of your personality. If you don't know where to start here, compare yourself to basic descriptions of your zodiac sign. Try
www.astrology.com or something like that.
Then mix and match the 2 together, and you might get something of a new age trading style
just kidding, but if you try to get something to fit your personality, you will save yourself lots of time. Style is outcome of meshing your personality with different trading techniques and strategies.
You can't just get a style, you already have a personality, and you can choose which techniques and strategies you want.
Heres an example of my personality/strategies&techniques/style.
My personality:
I'm quick thinking, but sometimes a bit too quick on acting
Like alot of action
Stubborn when I think i'm right
Quick to change when i think i could be wrong
Very creative and i take great pride in what i create
Logical mind
Everything is either black or white in my mind, theres no grey area.
My Search for techniques went in this order:
I started as a level2 bandit, but it was too discretionary for me. Then i moved on to indicator based trading like stoch's and bb's. I liked the idea that it could be mechanical, but it was also had grey areas that i didn't like. I then moved on too classical chart patterns and candlestick patterns. I liked this because it allowed me to be creative, but it also relied on too much discretion.
From there I moved to the outer fringes of technical analysis such as elliot wave, gann, and fibonacci numbers. However my research in those areas turned up this fact. IT DOESN"T WORK OUT OF THE BOX.
From there I decided to come up with my own stuff, so I started from scratch with a blank chart. I came up with the following home grown indicators.
Volume Reversals
Various bar patterns
Various customized fibonacci methods
My own wave pattern that i use to determine the overall trend. (this is one of my more dependable ones)
Chaotic Trendlines (a more organized version of psychotic trendlines - see hardrightedge.com)
Gap patterns
And over 10 mathematical patterns in the markets.
I realized that because of my personality, i would never trade based on indicators made by someone else, and I would always be searching for the holy grail. Although many people say don't search for the grail, i think you should... however, you should have a plan for trading while searching. It has to be practical, something that works.
My style:
Anyhow, I now trade off of daily and weekly charts using my custom wave pattern and daily high/low pivots based on gap patterns, chaotic trendlines, and mathematics.
I like the solid feeling I get from the daily charts. What i do for action is constantly average in and out of positions to increase profits and minimize risk. ( i used to scalp alot, but i overtraded, and decided there was a better way to get action but not become controlled by that need, i've found this to work very well)
I use very tight stops, and I use the different techniques i came up with to verify eachother. Along the way, I think i've developed a unique style, attitude, and philosophy in trading that make me the trader i am.
we're all newbies, and I never stop searching, and i beleive this is what makes me better, keeps me fresh and on top of the changing market conditions.
if i would have studied my personality and learned the basics of different types of trading/techniques, I could have saved myself a year that I wasted on Mr. Stochastic and friends, and Mr. Elliot, Gann, and Fibonazi.
hope that helps, gluck.
edit: i didn't make it clear by the above, I'm a contrarian or a pivot trader, not a breakout/breakdown trader.
those are the 2 main types of traders... important to decide which style suits you best, or if you can do both, thats great.
I like the low risk of a tight stop on a pivot entry... i can buy at the bid and sell at the ask using limit orders put in well ahead of time.
